Of Fires and Starlit Nights
by starmoon1
Summary: What happens when Kagome goes back to her time to celebrate Sota's birthday? What does Inu-yasha do when he followes her....? It's really a ONE SHOT. Hope you enjoy! (Sango/Miroku & Kagome/Inu-yasha) Please READ AND REVIEW!!!!


Disclaimer: I don't own Inu-yasha or any of the characters from the show or the manga. They belong to the much revered author, so DON'T SUE ME, K?  
  
Of Fires and Starlit Nights  
  
Kagome stood by the Bone Eater's Well, ready to return to her own time. She picked up her backpack and dropped it over the crumbling edge. As she hoisted herself up to stand precariously on the side, she was lifted up and rather suddenly found herself next to the well again.  
  
Kagome turned around to face the annoyed half-demon.  
  
"Ya can't leave." He said quite plainly.  
  
'Oh dear,' thought Kagome 'here we go again. . .'  
  
"I've told you a million times already, Inu-yasha! Today is Sota's birthday. I haven't seen my family in almost two weeks! And anyway, I promised I'd be there to help!"  
  
"But what about the shards?!"  
  
She sighed. "Don't make me use the 'S' word. . ." she said tersely. "I'll only be gone overnight, I promise. I will be back here tomorrow! Now, goodbye, Inu-yasha! And you'd better hope I don't find out that you've been hitting Shippo-chan over the head again!"  
  
And with that, Kagome climbed up the side of the well and jumped in as she waved goodbye.  
  
"Feh. . ." Inu-yasha grumbled. "Stupid girl. . . useless. . . And what's with that birthday-thing, anyway?!" With that, Inu-yasha bounded away towards Kaede's hut.  
  
Kagome looked for the bag of pretzels as her mother iced the cake. She was worried about her mother. She'd caught what appeared to be the beginnings of a particularly nasty cold. She found herself thinking of Kaede's warm hut, and of the friends she had left behind in the past. She couldn't help but smile as she pictured Sango coughing on her tea and turning around to slap Miroku, who had tried to feel her backside again. She imagined Shippo, teasing Inu-yasha. . .  
  
Kagome pictured Inu-yasha at the well. He was the only one of her friends who followed her, trying to convince her to stay. 'He looked so. . . so lonely. . . Huh?! Where did that come from?! I hope I'm not blushing!!!' She mused over these thoughts for a while, even after she'd bumped her head on the cabinet. . .  
  
Inu-yasha huffed over to the fire. Kaede glanced up for a moment from her work and, despite herself, smiled. 'He really does worry about her. . . but that boy needs to understand that she has her own responsibilities in her time to think about. . .' With a shake of her head, Kaede went back to her work.  
  
After a while, Inu-yasha got up and headed for the door, mumbling something about the hut being to stuffy and needing to get some air.  
  
'Just because she said she'd come back tomorrow, doesn't mean I can't go and make sure. . .' He thought. 'She might need protecting. . . yeah. That's it. . .and what is this sleep-over thing she keeps talking about anyway? Sound's rather suspicious if you ask me!' "Hmph!" And with that, Inu-yasha jumped into the well.  
Shippo was getting restless. He knew Kagome was only going to be gone for the night, but he missed her! She was like a big sister and a mommy all in one. . . His ears drooped a little at the thought of his family. They died when he was still little. Not that he was little now! He was 8 in youkai years, and going on 9! But that didn't mean that he didn't want to be held once in a while. . . Even Inu-yasha was okay to have around, sometimes. He was like a big annoying stupid brother. . . who hit him on the head when Shippo said something he didn't like. It always made him feel better when Kagome sat him, though. He smiled at that. Inu-yasha was a big stubborn demon, but Kagome was a stubborn girl, and Shippo new that it was almost impossible for Inu-yasha to have his way around when Kagome was there. . .  
  
"I'm going to go play outside. . ." he said carefully. What he really wanted to do was go and find Inu-yasha.  
  
"Oh, no you don't, little kitsune." Said Sango, tugging on his tail to keep him from going outside. "It's too late for you to be going out by yourself, and anyway, you won't find Inu-yasha. You might as well just stay here with the rest of us tonight."  
  
"How do you know I'm going to get Inu-yasha?" he asked pointedly.  
  
"Because that's what you always do." The old priestess said in a gruff voice.  
  
"Awwww. . . But where did he go?" whined the little kitsune.  
  
"To visit Kagome. Now hush, and eat your rice." Kaede pushed a bowl in front of Shippo.  
  
"How do you know he went to see Kagome?" Shippo asked through mouthfuls of food.  
  
"Ahem. Well, when a man is finds himself taken with a young wo - ow! " Miroku began.  
  
"Shippo, why don't we go outside. . ." said Sango, glancing at Miroku and blushing furiously.  
  
She slapped Miroku's hand again. It had managed to ever so sneakily make its way towards Sango's backside once more.  
Kagome was getting a little nervous. Her mother was exhausted from her cold and she would be in bed for the rest of the day. 'How in the world am I going to manage fifteen boys?!' she thought as she hurriedly swept the floor. 'Sota's sweet, but he's enough to handle on his own. Oh! What am I going to do? I can't cancel his birthday party. He's been looking forward to it for so long. . .' she sighed. 'Maybe Grandpa could- no. He's too old to try and handle a bunch of little kids.'  
  
Kagome laughed as she pictured her Grandfather trying to entertain Sota's friends with stories about the shrine. . .  
  
There was a sharp rapping at the door.  
  
'Oh, no.' she thought irritably. ´Someone's here early.'  
  
Sota raced down the stairs as fast as he could.  
  
"I'll get it, Kagome!" He called from the hallway. Kagome finished sweeping and put away the broom. She heard an excited cry from Sota as she washed her hands off, wondering whom it could be that would come so early. She smiled, despite her worries. Sota was certainly excited.  
  
"Hey, Kagome! Guess who my first guest is? You won't believe it!" cried Sota happily.  
  
Kagome went to make some tea while Sota invited his guest inside.  
  
"Be with 'ya in a minute!"  
  
She got a chair from the table so she could reach the cups. But the chair started to shake as she stood on her toes to reach. "Ahhh!" she cried as Kagome began to fall, before she could hit the floor, she found herself in the arms of an annoyed dog-demon.  
"I can't believe Inu-yasha's here for my sleep-over!" Cried Sota for the fifth time. He was talking so fast that Inu-yasha couldn't get a word in, and so was stuck for the night. Kagome still couldn't believe how lucky she'd gotten. Even if she was a little put out because he'd shown up, Inu- yasha was just the person to help her with all of her little brother's friends.  
  
It was later in the afternoon, and Inu-yasha was taking each boy for a piggy-back ride. Kagome was getting ready to order take-out for dinner. She looked out the window facing the back of her house, making sure they were behaving. Kagome smiled. She'd never seen Inu-yasha look so, so silly. . . or so happy. . . She giggled. 'Roughhousing with a bunch of boys. . . who new you had it in you, Inu-yasha?' It wasn't even late yet, and all of the boys admired the half-youkai with fierceness to rival Sota's own admiration.  
  
'Since when did Inu-yasha become so. . . gentle. . .?' She wondered. 'Well, I guess even dog demons like to have fun once in a while!'  
  
"Hello, Miss? Is anyone there?" quipped the annoyed voice on the other line.  
  
"Oh! I'm sorry! Um, I'd like to order twelve . . ."  
'Humans. . .' thought Inu-yasha. One after another, he ran around the yard carrying each boy on his back while the rest followed him and tried to keep up the demon's pace. He smirked as he imagined all those times he'd carried Kagome, something these boys called "piggy-back". 'Fe. . .. Stupid girl. Almost broke her neck! If I hadn't been there, Kagome could have been badly hurt like those broken tea cups.' Inu-yasha thought about it, his heart still beating. 'Why did she have to be so careless like that?!' He remembered the way Kagome looked after he'd caught her. . . how she clung to him as he carried her to a chair, refusing to let her get up when he'd finally put her down. Inu-yasha shook his head. 'Don't know what I'd - I mean she'd do without me. Oh, you'd never be able to do without her, admit it!' What was he thinking?! When did Inu-yasha the great (half) demon think of things like, well - like that?!  
  
'Have to admit, though, it's nice, almost fun helping her manage all these little pups here. . . They aren't even afraid of me. . .' He marveled at the idea. It was true, too. They weren't afraid. Not like the little human children of his time usually were. What was it that Sota had said? Oh, yeah. He'd called Inu-yasha "cool" a word Kagome used to describe anything she thought was really neat. He didn't even mind so much when they twiddled his ears to see if they were real. 'Huh! Weakness! They're just a bunch of little humans. . . who think I'm "cool". . .' He mused.  
'Altogether, it was a good birthday for Sota.' Thought Kagome. 'Of course, not only does Sota completely idolize Inu-yasha but now all of his friends do, too.'  
  
She found the bag of marshmallows she'd been looking for and headed back outside. She paused at the door, and smiled at the picture before her.  
  
There sat Inu-yasha, surrounded by the Sota and his friends as he tried to show them the proper way to light a campfire. 'He's even working to control his temper!' She giggled as a very frustrated Inu-yasha tried to hide his annoyance from fifteen very talkative little boys who were hanging on to his every word at the same time.  
  
One by one, each party guest drifted off to sleep curled up in a sleeping bags by the fire. Inu-yasha looked around them all, reaching over now and again to tuck them back into their sleeping bags as the slumbered. Sota was the last to fall asleep.  
  
"That was awfully nice." Inu-yasha turned around to see Kagome standing behind him with a pile of extra blankets in her arms.  
  
He kicked himself mentally 'How long has she been standing there?!' he wondered. Now that the wind had shifted directions, he got a good whiff of her scent. It was so intoxicating. . .  
  
Kagome sat and looked at the fire, and glanced at Inu-yasha's eyes. The reflection of the fire made them look so much more intense than the usually were. And was that just the fire that added color his face? 'He looks so, so different. . .' thought Kagome. 'Am I imagining it? There seems to be something gentle in his eyes. . .'  
  
"Feh. . ." he grumbled  
  
"Is something wrong?" asked Kagome.  
  
"N-no. . ." he mumbled, unsure of what to say to her. 'Gods! What it just the fire playing on her face that made her eyes even more beautiful? Did it add that soft pink hue to her cheeks? What am I thinking?! It's not as if I'm i- in l - '  
  
Kagome moved closer to Inu-yasha and to the fire, tossing a blanket his way.  
Sango sat on the ground and leaned against the hut. She could hear gentle snores issuing from the young kitsune. 'Finally.' She thought. 'I thought he'd never fall asleep. He misses Kagome when she goes away, too. She's so kind to Shippo.' She tried not to think of how Kogome's behavior to Shippo demanded her of the relationship she had shared with her own brother, Kohaku. . .  
  
Sango shivered as a chill gust of wind blew by, but she didn't go back into the hut. Her mind was restless, and so trying to sleep was pointless. Another chill swept through her, but she didn't notice. Her mind wandered past her surroundings. . .  
  
She smiled as she thought back to some of her latest adventures with her friends. How Shippo always tried to pick a fight with Inu-yasha, or the way Kagome looked whenever she was about to 'sit' the dog-demon (usually because he'd lost his patience in one of his fights with Shippo). She remembered the last time Miroku had tried to peek at the two girls as they bathed, and chuckled. 'I really slapped that houshi silly, last time. . .' she thought.  
  
He was always giving her a hard time. 'Huh. . . lecher! Just because he's saved my life more than once, or smiled at me with that grin of his, or -'  
  
"Oh!"  
  
Sango was surprised to see the houshi sitting right next to her. 'How long has he been sitting there?' She asked herself. Sango noticed that while she'd been musing, he'd wrapped a blanket around her shoulders to keep out the cold. She snuggled into it as she looked up to the stars, her eyes shining, reflecting the ethereal brightness in the sky.  
  
Miroku looked down at his covered hand and fingered one of the prayer beads with the other. 'Her eyes are so beautiful' he thought. 'Why can I not tell her how I feel for her?!' It seemed that no matter how hard the monk tried to tell Sango how he felt, the words would get stuck in his throat, and he ended up looking hardly better than a gaping fish!  
  
'Why? Why must I loose my voice only around her?' he thought sadly. 'I came out here to tell her how I felt and here she is and I can't tell her how beautiful she looks, or how it kills me when she's sad or in danger, or. . .'  
  
"Miroku?" Sango stirred him from his thoughts.  
  
"Hmmm? Yes, Sango?"  
  
'Oh! Dear Gods! How can I tell him?! How can I tell this man that I -' She looked into his eyes. They were dark pools, deep and penetrating. It seemed that they would swallow her thoughts.  
  
"Thank you. . ." she said, feeling the familiar heat of a blush rise into her cheeks.  
  
"Whatever for?" asked the monk.  
  
"For, well - for saving me. . . I - I've never thanked you properly, after all. . . and-"  
  
She was shaking, now. But it wasn't from the cold.  
  
"Shhh. . ." He said softly, gently putting his unbound hand to her lips. Sango's hand had moved to his cursed one on the ground, but neither of the two noticed.  
  
"I understand. . ." he said. A single tear rolled down the demon huntress's cheek.  
  
"A-ashiteru, Miroku." She rested her head on his shoulder and with that, the young woman had finally fallen asleep. Her mind troubled her no longer.  
  
"Ashiteru, Sango. . ." he rested his head on top of hers, breathing in the scent of her hair as he drifted off to sleep. They stayed there for the rest of the night.  
"The stars are so lovely tonight." Mused Kagome. She was getting sleepy. The two of them had stayed outside, watching the now smoldering embers where the camp fire had once been. Kagome layed her head down in Inu- yasha's lap as she slowly drifted off. Inu-yasha felt her shiver as a chill breeze brushed her shoulders. 'Stupid girl. . .It's cold out' he thought. 'Should be inside, in her bed. . .' He lifted her up and quietly picked his way around the colorful sleeping bags that surrounded the remains of the fire as he headed towards the house.  
  
Kagome stirred a little and put her arms around Inu-yasha's neck as he carried her upstairs. She felt warm and soft to the touch. 'She looks so peaceful' he thought as he pulled down her blankets and gently slipped Kagome into her bed. The girl hugged her pillow as the dog-demon pulled the covers back around her, checking to make sure they wouldn't come off in the middle of the night as it cooled down outside.  
  
'She's - she's beautiful. . . If only I could - if we - no. She'd never return my, feelings. . .' he thought sadly, as he brushed away a strand of hair from her face. He bent down and hesitated for a moment, before placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.  
  
"Inu-yasha. . .?" mumbled Kagome, as her eyes fluttered open. He backed away quickly, fearing what was coming next.  
  
"Inu-yasha?" said Kagome again.  
  
He reluctantly looked up into her eyes, and saw that they were shining. . . 'How could I've been so STUPID!!!' he thought to himself. 'Now she'll HATE me. . .'  
  
"Inu-yasha, I - I. . ." A faint and familiar blush rose to her cheeks.  
  
"Sorry. . ." He mumbled. The pain was evident in his voice.  
  
Kagome stood up and walked tentatively towards him. Inu-yasha was paralyzed. 'Here it comes. . .' He thought, ears drooping. 'She's really going to yell and sit me for this. . .'  
  
"Ashiteru, Inu-yasha. . ." She hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek. Inu- yasha buried his face in her hair, shaking. Tears streamed uncontrollably down his face as the pain of past wounds in his heart melted away with he words and her touch.  
  
"Ashiteru, Kagome. . ."  
Author's Note: That's the end! I wrote this in two days! It's my first fan fiction of any kind, so send me your comments and questions! I wanna know!!! Hey people! It's me! I know, you're thinking why this is showing up again? Well, I made some adjustments to it is all! Read and REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!!! Until later! -Starmoon 


End file.
